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LA Galaxy

Toronto FC Head Coach Ryan Nelsen had a bit of a go at Real Salt Lake on Tuesday, telling reporters at TFC’s media availability that he thinks that Claret-and-Cobalt forward Alvaro Saborio should be suspended for his challenge on LA’s A.J. DeLaGarza (video above) in Saturday’s 1-1 draw.

Nelsen commented on Saborio after fielding questions about TFC midfielder Jackson, who Nelsen predicted will likely get suspended for this elbow to DC’s Davy Arnaud.

“That could have broken his leg,” Nelsen said of Saborio’s challenge in a report by Sportsnet’s John Molinaro. “If Jackson gets suspended, you’d like to hope that a [player] who has nearly broken a guy’s leg is going to get suspended as well. You never know, though. I don’t make up the rules.”

Nelsen also commented on TFC’s early season schedule on Tuesday, calling it “probably the toughest start of any team in the whole of the league.”

First, the good news: RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando is a go for Saturday’s home opener against LA Galaxy after having some back issues last weekend at San Jose.

Now, the bad: Claret-and-Cobalt midfielder Sebastian Velasquez and defender Aaron Maund will both miss the match due to hamstring injuries. Forwards Robbie Findley – recovering from surgery – and Devon Sandoval – rehabbing a preseason foot injury – will also miss the match.

RSL’s questionable contingent includes midfield maestro Javier Morales, defender Chris Schuler, defender Kwame Watson-Siriboe and midfielder Jordan Allen. Morales missed Saturday’s draw at San Jose with a back injury, Schuler is coming back from offseason surgery and has yet to play this year, Watson-Siriboe is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last summer and Allen hurt his ankle in an appearance off the bench at San Jose.

Cassar expanded on RSL’s health situation on “The Bill & Hans Show” on ESPN 700 on Tuesday afternoon, talking to Hans Olsen and fill-in host Keith Stubbs at the club’s Meet the Team event from Scheels in Sandy.

“They’re all progressing. I think Sebastian Velasquez maybe took a step backwards, he kind of re-aggravated his hamstring while training with the guys that didn’t travel [to San Jose last weekend], but all the other ones are progressing. Whether they’ll be available or not we’ll have to evaluate that in the next few days.”

On Nick Rimando and Aaron Maund:

“Nicky’s feeling great. He just had a spasm that tightened up during the game, but he’s feeling fantastic. He did great in training today. Aaron has a hamstring pull, he’s probably day to day, but I’d say it’s not looking good for him this weekend.”

On whether having this many injuries is rare this early in the season:

“A lot of them are things that happened last year. Chris Schuler, Devon Sandoval, Robbie Findley, they’re carrying over from [older injuries], so we’re trying to be careful. It’s a long season and we don’t want them to stay injured, so we’re trying to be careful. Robbie’s a little bit further away, but Schuler’s starting to get into full training sessions, so we’re really happy about that.”

LA got off to a nightmare start at Estadio Caliente, giving up three goals in the first 30 minutes to fall behind 3-1 on aggregate. The Galaxy pulled within one goal when Robbie Keane put away a 47th minute free kick, but fell behind 4-2 on aggregate when Richard Ruiz scored for Tijuana in the 82nd minute. Keane pulled LA back again in the 85th, but it wasn’t enough, with LA failing to find a winner in the game’s final stages.

The CCL Quarterfinal loss adds to LA’s rough start to the season, with the Galaxy now having a Champions League loss under their belts to go along with their season opening defeat to your Claret-and-Cobalt. Real Salt Lake will look for its second win against LA on Saturday, opening its 2014 home schedule at 2:00 p.m. MT against its Western Conference rival. Get your tickets here.

Real Salt Lake will open its 2014 home schedule on Saturday, when the LA Galaxy will come to Rio Tinto Stadium for a 2:00 p.m. kickoff.

The Galaxy aren’t worried about Saturday’s match just yet, however, what with the small matter of a CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal second leg at Mexican club Tijuana to attend to tonight. The Galaxy beat Xolos in the first leg of the series last Wednesday, topping the Baja California club 1-0 at StubHub Center.

Tonight they have a taller order: Hold off Tijuana in a hostile environment south of the border. LA will need a strong performance from its full complement of players if they’re to advance past Xolos and into the CCL Semifinals, where they would face the winner of the Sporting Kansas City-Cruz Azul series. The first leg of that series would be played on April 1, 2 or 3.

Tonight’s LA-Tijuana second leg kicks off at 8:00 p.m. MT. Watch it live on Fox Sports 2.

ABC 4’s Real Sports Live was in LA this weekend for RSL’s season opener, covering the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 1-0 victory at the Galaxy from front to back with plenty of postgame content.

Real Sports Live’s Bill Riley and Brian Dunseth sat down with new RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar, goalkeeper Nick Rimando and defender Aaron Maund after the game, speaking with all three about their solid individual performances and the team’s impressive win.

Sunday’s Real Sports Live also featured a couple more pieces of Real Salt Lake content, with ABC 4’s Wesley Ruff sitting down for an in-studio interview with RSL President Bill Manning and Cassar and Dunny’s Crossbar Challenge airing on the show.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando was at it again on Saturday night, playing out of his mind to preserve a 1-0 season opening win for RSL at LA Galaxy.

Rimando made nine saves on Saturday, several of them fantastic. Nicky saved his best stop for last, saving the Claret-and-Cobalt's win with a penalty kick stop on Galaxy forward Robbie Keane after RSL defender Tony Beltran was controversially whistled for a foul in the box on LA substitute Rob Friend.

"In that moment, it just felt [like] somebody wanted to take the game away a little bit," Rimando said after the game. "I knew [Keane] likes to stutter step and I waited as long as I could. [I] went to my right, reacted and was lucky to make the save."

Saturday's PK stop means that opponents have only put 41 of 61 attempted regular season PK's past Rimando. His 32.8 percent success rate on penalties is the best such rate in league history. The veteran backstop is now only three shutouts away from tying Kevin Hartman for the all-time MLS record with 112 clean sheets.